Abstract
Background - In transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients who started regular transfusions in early childhood, we prospectively and longitudinally evaluated the efficacy on pancreatic iron of a combined deferiprone (DFP) + desferrioxamine (DFO) regimen versus either oral iron chelator as monotherapy over a follow-up of 18 months.
Materials and methods - We selected patients consecutively enrolled in the Extension-Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia network who received a combined regimen of DFO+DFP (N=28) or DFP (N=61) or deferasirox (DFX) (N=159) monotherapy between the two magnetic resonance imaging scans. Pancreatic iron overload was quantified by the T2* technique.
Results - At baseline no patient in the combined treatment group had a normal global pancreas T2* (≥26 ms). At follow-up the percentage of patients who maintained a normal pancreas T2* was comparable between the DFP and DFX groups (57.1 vs 70%; p=0.517).
Among the patients with pancreatic iron overload at baseline, global pancreatic T2* values were significantly lower in the combined DFO+DFP group than in the DFP or DFX groups. Since changes in global pancreas T2* values were negatively correlated with baseline pancreas T2* values, the percent changes in global pancreas T2* values, normalized for the baseline values, were considered. The percent changes in global pancreas T2* values were significantly higher in the combined DFO+DFP group than in either the DFP (p=0.036) or DFX (p=0.030) groups.
Discussion - In transfusion-dependent patients who started regular transfusions in early childhood, combined DFP+DFO was significantly more effective in reducing pancreatic iron than was either DFP or DFX.
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